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Overall Rating : 5/10
Directed By : Tibor Takács
Patrick Muldoon (Starship Troopers)
Vanessa Williams (Candyman)
Thomas Calabro (They Nest)
David Millbern (Chupacabra Terror)
Supplied By : Sony Pictures
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : September 26, 2007
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| PLOT When a young ski team training for the Olympics arrives at the remote and isolated Lost Mountain Ski Resort to focus on training, they're thrilled to find "Dash" Dashiell, ), a retired Olympic skier, is there to help them train. But their plans are halted when Dr. April Sommers, a scientist working at a nearby government lab, arrives with an emergency: giant spiders bred at the lab have escaped, and they're killing and eating everything in sight! |
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| THE REVIEW Terror falls upon a ski resort, when genetically engineered spiders run amuck in the Sci-Fi Creature Feature ICE SPIDERS. The story sets up as a group of Olympic hopefuls, along with their coach travel to the Lost Mountain Ski Resort to train, in which a retired Olympic champion once injured - "Dash" Dashiell, is now a trainer. But what they thought would be a peaceful training getaway, turns out to be more strenuous than any training regiment ever could be when they learn that a group of huge genetically altered spiders from a nearby lab have escaped - already have killed, they are heading straight for the resort. The spiders have been part of a top secret experiment that has been kept under wraps by the lab - they have implanted various breeds of spiders with the DNA, that of a Prehistoric giant spider they once discovered, thus making the spiders that were tested, stronger and also hungrier, not to mention bigger than they were before. The only one that is willing to come forward and uncover the secret experiments against the approval of he colleagues is Dr. April Sommers, and with the help of Dash and anyone whom happens to survive, together they try to put an end to the treacherous arachnids. You know what? Just the ICE SPIDERS title alone sparked my initial interest in seeing this one, Because sometimes, I get in just the right mood to take in a cheesy Creature Feature such as this one, and with the ski setting reminding me of another cheesy adventure that I have watched several times called SHREDDER, I was actually looking forward to this, To be honest, the plot here is pretty terrible(as is with many other films aired on THE SCI FI CHANNEL as "Original Movies" - as i've said in many reviews already.), the whole plot was centered around Olympic hopefuls training to compete - but if I remember correctly I don't really recall an once of training going on in this film. It's plots and screenplays like these that are made for the sole purpose to have some giant creature that is on screen killing people, having no real plot development. So we should know by now, that if we are going into a film like ICE SPIDERS expecting something award winning and great, we are likely to be disappointed - Just look at the film's title......ICE SPIDERS.... I wonder who long it took the filmmakers to think up that amazing title? The bottom line is, films such as one like ICE SPIDERS, are begging you to take them seriously, but when watching them, you can't no matter how much, or how hard you try. The thing to do is, to have fun with them, laugh and just enjoy them. I'll admit with me saying this, their are some films that are just god-awful that you can't even finish them - but I found ICE SPIDERS to be an imperfect but great way to kill some time. The dialogue in ICE SPIDERS is so bad at times that you just can't help yourself from laughing. You have middle aged man in the character of "Dash" Dashiell, whom just struggles along as he tries to be hip - saying the word "Dude" after every few words, which also could really apply to the younger cast members as well). A Doctor named April Sommers, whom is entirely mis-cast, portrayed by Vanessa Williams(no not THAT Vanessa Williams), whom seems very uncomfortable and out of place which leads her to come off to the audience as unbelievable in performance. Speaking of unbelievable, so is the entire time of lab scientists the film has going on - they would have actually been more believable as mobsters rather than intelligent Scientists - that's how for off they are(especially the main Doctor in charge). Overall the plot in ICE SPIDERS is a complete mess, but somehow I couldn't help but to enjoy it, sure the spiders sometimes look ridiculous, and the occasional close up of their eyes is absolutely cheesy, but it's just part of the film's over charm and fun. | ||||
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| GORE
METER 2.5/10 The gore comes in the form of cheesy "death by spider" effects and huge spider webs, that are really a laugh, it's always fun to watch actors act against something that's not really there - especially when they do it badly. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 3.5/10 Just your typical Sci-Fi Creature Feature score nothing special, nor anything that stands out. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM In the end, ICE SPIDERS is definitely one of those movies that's "so bad, it's good" as the saying goes. When it comes to films like these, sure not everyone will like them, but you'd be surprised with just how many people do like them - these films have fan-bases. I consider myself a fan of these kinds of films(with the exception of some, as I said earlier), and I did find something that was rather enjoyable in this film, I can't really tell you what it is, I don't even know myself, but it's something....I recommend this for when you just want to put your brain on pause, and just have a little unthinkable fun. This DVD will be released on October 16, 2007 |
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